Exclusive: The U.S. tracked the Chinese spy balloon a week before shooting it down off the coast of South Carolina. The Chinese surveillance device may have been diverted on an errant path caused by unusual weather conditions.
Saturday, Feb. 4thSources: China’s Foreign Ministry, NOAA, United Nations
“This was a discrete program — part of a larger set of programs that are about gaining greater clarity about military facilities in the United States and in a variety of other countries,” said one senior U.S. official. It appears to be meant to “augment the satellite systems.” The balloon was launched from the ground, part of a program run in part by the PLA Air Force, and it may have been taken off course by strong high-altitude winds, officials said. The balloon was partly directed by air currents and partly piloted remotely, they said. With propellers and a rudder, it has the capability to be maneuvered.
Around Jan. 24, when the balloon was roughly about 1,000 miles south of Japan, model simulations show it began to gain speed and rapidly veer north. This was probably in response to a strong cold front that hadOrdinarily, atmospheric steering motions would have kept the balloon on much more of a west to east course, historical weather data shows. However, the intense cold front forced the jet stream and high altitude steering currents to dip south and may have scooped the balloon northward.U.S.
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